


Becoming Immortal (Starring Bela Lugosi As Mentoring Spirit)

by bofoddity



Category: Ed Wood (1994)
Genre: Conversations with dead people (not BTVS), Friendship, Gen, Holy shit this is old, Melancholy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-19
Updated: 2004-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:19:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1626392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bofoddity/pseuds/bofoddity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Bela's death, Ed gets a little lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Becoming Immortal (Starring Bela Lugosi As Mentoring Spirit)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Firerose.

Ed remembered how his life had begun.

It wasn't his first breath that he remembered. Like with everybody else, that memory was lost to him forever, and it didn't even mean anything to him, as critical for his existence as it might have been. It didn't matter because the first years after that breath had been meaningless, a symbolic thread of his life as grey and dull as anybody else's. No, his life hadn't begun before that one faithful night in a movie theater, when a man so great that his presence soared outside the corners of the screen had stepped into his view, enchanting Ed forever.

When he finally met this man in real life, the man was old and battered and instead of soul-shaking menace, there was now longing in his voice, bitter darkness in his eyes. But the presence was still the same, knocking Ed down to his knees with it's power as he had realized how lucky he was. So few dreamers had a chance to meet the very source of their inspiration face to face, but Ed had found Bela Lugosi.

However now, he suspected that maybe the rest of the world's dreamers had been luckier ones after all, as he watched a coffin disappear into a hole in the ground through a blurry veil in his eyes. Other dreamers might never had a chance to get near their heroes, become close to them, but they would never have to watch them die, either.

* * *

_"I'm better off dead, Ed."_

Bela was a startling actor, but what made him a true star was the power he held within his true persona as well, even if it only manifested in angry, bitter moments like this. A chill trickled through his body, but Ed managed to summon a smile on his face, his voice hitching high with fake cheer as he said: "You don't mean that."

He watched nervously as Bela considered his words, forehead crumpling in a thoughtful frown, relief washing over him as Bela answered: "No, I don't." Bela caught his gaze, a speculative look in his eyes. "But if I did, what would you have said to me?"

A laughter escaped Ed's mouth, meant for the show, but triggered by sudden burst of hysteria. Bela was smiling, which should have comforted him, only it barely touched Bela's eyes, leaving them glassy and hollow. It could have been the morphine, of course, drawing a veil of haze over Bela that separated him from Ed, kept Bela from hearing him. He tried anyway, speaking up confidently:

"I would have told you the truth: That the world would be full on heartbroken people if you died." Like me, he added in his mind, desperately seeking for signs of hope from Bela's face.

Now it was Bela who uttered a laughter, his eyes lighting up with dark, eerie glint. "Really? Then they must excel at hiding, because I haven't seen any of them in years." Bela's tone was mild, almost soothing, but there was pure venom in his voice, honey-smooth poison that slid through Ed, leaving him cold inside. "The thing is, Ed," Bela continued as he grabbed his wine glass from the table, lifting it in the air in a mock toast. "That they'll always forget you in the end. That's how it goes with fame. It's never worth it in the end."

* * *

"Of all memories you have of me, I wish you would have settled for happier one."

Ed started out of the dream, causing peacefully dozing Kathy to groan in her sleep. He searched for her face with his hand, gently brushing his knuckles along her cheek as he soothed her back to peace, aware of eyes watching him from the dark.

Or no, that wasn't true. There was nobody watching him from the dark and nobody had spoken to him because..

"Ed, I know that this must be surprising, but would you please look at me?"

"Bela, you're dead," Ed whispered, voice cracking disbelief and suddenly rising anger, but he turned away from Kathy anyway and looked straight at his dead friend.

As ironic as it was, Bela looked better than ever now that he was dead. Ed realized that this was probably the first time when they saw each other for real, with Bela's mind clear of drugs and Ed's of movie projects that would lift them both to grace, only two naked souls observing each other. And for once Bela smiled to him with ease, and it only seemed fitting that he was wearing fangs.

"You're dead," Ed said again, only now the disbelief was gone, as well as anger, leaving only understanding left. It was only natural that Bela would appear to him like this, wearing fangs and a long black cape that would have looked ridiculous on anybody else. Bela had made Dracula immortal, how could he not be immortal himself, magnificent enough to reach people even beyond death?

"And you've been fooling around," Bela countered, gesturing casually to the side, Ed's gaze following the motion, only to unwillingly acknowledge the pitiful looking bottles that he had emptied earlier that night. Even as the shame settled in, Bela rambled on: "You will feel that in the morning and trust me, it won't be pleasant."

"I hope I didn't drink enough to pass out..." Ed fell silent, glancing down at Kathy's sleeping figure again. She hadn't washed her face before going to sleep, so even in the dark Ed could notice the faintly smeared mascara on her face, dried to her face like black tears. "Oh no.. I didn't..?"

"I doubt she would be there if you had," Bela whispered softly. His feet made no sound as he walked over to the bed, but when he grasped Ed's shoulder, his hand felt warm an tender. "She just can't bear to see you destroy yourself. I guess we're similar in that aspect."

Ed laughed sharply, leaning down to press a quick kiss to Kathy's temple, fingers twisting into her hair. He might gone further than that, waking her up with a tight embrace and whispering frantic words of gratitude and regret into her ear, but Bela's hand on his shoulder insisted otherwise, demanding his attention. He turned to look up at his friend, suddenly remembering that he shouldn't feel that hand, because even if was Bela Lugosi's hand, it should have been just untouchable as any other ghost's.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked, as casually as one could when talking to a dead man. "Are you going to put me back on my tracks?"

There was self-righteous mockery in his voice, a realization that made his cheeks burn red with shame, but Bela only smiled, his eyes twinkling with something that looked like mischief. "We'll see that," he replied, reaching out with his other hand. With his heart jumping fast with excitement, Ed took the hand, world swirling around them..

* * *

_Cotton was nighttime-material, so Ed couldn't understand why he was wearing an angora blouse in bed. And he couldn't understand why he was sleeping in a bed so soft that it felt like it was made of feathers, because he certainly didn't afford to buy anything luxurious like that himself. He also couldn't understand why he couldn't move, his body frozen in an innocent curl of a dainty virgin, the kind you saw in horror flicks._

He jumped inside as the door creaked loudly open while his body remained still, refusing every order his startled mind tried to send. The horror within him inched wider as he heard someone with very heavy, very menacing steps approach the bed. Beyond his closed eyelids, ghostly gleam of moonlight flickered around him but offered no comfort, refusing to alert his body to the danger his mind was already panicking about.

Soft mattress sank as a weight flopped down next to him, icy hands settling firmly to his waist, lifting his torso gently off the bed. At that moment his eyes finally snapped open, refusing to close as his mind flooded with fear at the sight of terrifying set of fangs right over his face, a scream escaping him as those fangs plunged down for his throat..

"And cut!"

His body back under his control again, Ed instinctively pushed his hungry opponent away from the shoulders, stumbling backwards. "Hell, Bela!"

Even as his heart still pounded wildly with fear, he could feel it giving room to awe as he stared up at Bela's smirking face. He was quite sure that the world would never see Dracula leaning over a young man dressed in an angora blouse and a horror heroine's blond wig, but even if the scene was so unlikely, the delivery had just made it unforgettable. Ed didn't think he had ever seen Bela so happy, glowering at him as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"That, Ed, is what making movies is all about: Entering the audience's heart forever." He turned so that he was half-facing Ed, catching Ed's eyes with his magnetic stare. "That's what you're going to do, Ed, and we both know that. Why are you trying to forget that?"

Ed had to look away for the moment, trying to find more interesting things to focus on from the walls and the floor, like patterns and dirt. Bela patiently waited him to get control of himself again, and finally Ed mumbled with small voice:

"It's not the same without you."

When Bela's eyes widened with surprise, Ed felt dismayed. Surely Bela had known how much Ed admired him, how much he cared? That dismay faded quickly as the realization came to him, and he offered Bela a careful smile. It must be like that for all great actors: They accepted eagerly all praised their work, but always hesitated when somebody praised them for being themselves. And Bela was greatest of them all.

"Besides," he continued, pulling the wig slowly off his head, as if to strip an obstacle from between them, preventing them from facing each other completely. "You said it wouldn't be worth it in the end.."

Bela snorted, straightening his long cape. "I don't think you believed me then, Ed, and you were absolutely right, you shouldn't believe me." A familiar wistful look spread over Bela's face at that moment, but instead turning sour like it usually did during the dark moments they had shared together, it remained bittersweet this time. "I won't lie to you, Ed. It won't last forever, and there will be times when you regret it, but.." He sighed gently, his mouth curving faintly with a smile. "As long as it lasts, it will be the most wonderful thing you'll ever know."

They sat there silently, with Bela glaring thoughtfully somewhere neither of them couldn't reach and Ed digging his toes into the mattress. It was Bela who broke the silence, turning his face to Ed as he whispered quietly, but firmly: "Don't give up, Ed. Not because of me."

Ed refused to look at him first, untangling the knots he had found from the wig before tossing it aside in a grand gesture, smiling brightly when he met Bela's eyes. "You know, my neck is itching after that 'bite'. What are those made of?"

Bela glared at him with confusion for a moment before realizing that Ed was talking about the fangs, after which he laughed warmly. "Well, as you noticed, they felt almost like real teeth, so.."

* * *

Ed woke up before they got to the end of the conversation, warm sunlight brushing the remnants of the dream from his eyes when Kathy opened the curtains, starting slightly when she noticed that he was awake. He laid there dazed for a moment, realizing with a wistful bang that he would never get to end that conversation. Bela was gone, like so many other legends were, and if a miracle had happened and they really had met last night, he doubted it would happen again.

It didn't hurt as much as he expected to.

"Hey," he said softly to Kathy, noticing with a touch of regret that there really was smeared mascara on her face, only sign of sadness she had hidden from him. However, her eyes glittered hopefully at his words when she replied:

"Hey yourself."

Ed stumbled out of the bed, stretching an arm out for Kathy as he walked up to her, and she readily accepted his hand, allowing herself to be pulled close. He pressed his nose into her hair, inhaling her soft, comforting scent.

His life might have begun from Bela, but it wouldn't end here, he still had his own legend to forge. And as he held onto Kathy, his eyes both burning and wetting up at the same time, he realized that Bela's life hadn't ended, either. Bela already belonged among immortals, and one day, Ed Wood would join him there.

Until that, they had their last movie together to finish.


End file.
